2020 Week 4 Recap

the today even happened. And maybe we should start looking at every one of these weeks as a gift because I know, you know, things looked Uh. We had one game moved, um totally off the schedule this week, Steelers Titans. We had Cam Newton testing positive for COVID nineteen, leading to a postponement of Chiefs Patriot. We had drama around the Saints because of a false positive test that led to Saints players being woken up in the middle of

the night last night ahead of a game to be tested. Uh. Yeah, So this is continues COVID to intrude the landscape in the NFL. And it was I mean, it spooked me this weekend and I'm sure, you guys felt the same. Yeah, you have to worry what's the rest of the season going to be? Like, I mean, I know there's one person celebrating that's Mark Sessler because he wants some sandwiches off of it. But yeah, you do, you do worry

about what's coming up. I actually lost sandwiches, Greig. I I my sandwich product to a lot of people, because that's right. Typically, I think in the past I would have gone towards the angle of cancelations and movements, but I tried to um suggest a positive sandwich. That's right.

It was west that because you That's what it was, because you were putting us in the position to take the bet and then we would essentially be rooting for a stoppage, right and Dan, you and Greg and you know I could put energy out there, Well you were you. You took a unusually pure um take on it all sort of just I don't believe in that kind of same way I do. I texted you guys, I do think that it probably goes down and I'm not proud of this is one of the more evil um energy

sandwich props around. Because I don't want any of this. I'm with you. I when the new when the Saints news hit last night, something in me felt just total darkness. And I'm glad that that situation worked out, but it's it's just a reminder that it's like it's just a dice roll. It just felt like a dice roll going

into this weekend. I fight hard against cynicism, and and I don't think I'm cynical at all, but I thought, if you can get out of this with only a few canceled football games are postponed games like as much as we've been facing in two thousand and twenty, that's a big win. I mean, unless unless we're talking about the Cincinnati Reds offense, you are not a cynic I agree with you. Well, I mean I believe that that was realism. They they're batting averages to twelve this year.

Give me a break. I can't do it, can't have it. I won't have it. All right, So that is the reality, um that this is not something that's going away. Uh, and we just have to hope it doesn't get worse than it got this weekend. But staying on the positive side of things, we got nearly a full slate of games to talk about on Sunday. So that's what we're gonna do here, going through each one, and Mark, I think we have history today and I want you to just soak this up and really enjoy it, because, um,

you and I both root for career loser franchises. Um, but the one you root for is on the up swing. And I think in all the years that we've done this podcast, we're about to do something that we've never done before, which is lead with the Cleveland Browns. So let's do it. Ricky three receivers tight off the line of the right that come to the laft. Here's Mayfield on a reverse. They're gonna give it to Beckham. He's rolling to the right and running. He's up to the fifty,

to the forty five, to the forty thirty. There he goes to the twenty fifteen fut touch on Oh b J. He's had a hat trick. What a gutsy call. Oh done back up Junior. Fifty yards on the run and really about a seventy yard run because by the time he's got it, he was twenty yards behind the line. He was twelve yards behind the line. But points stands Jim Donovan and Doug Deacon with a call for w

k r K. Yeah. Sodell Beckham finished with his first three score game in almost five years, cap by that fifty yard run on a reverse after the Cowboys had cut a forty one to fourteen deficit to three points with less than four minutes to play. Beckham had five catches for eighty one yards and two scores in addition to that clinching run final score eight rounds nearly put up a fifty burger uh in jeral world Mark. That was the Odell the Browns thought they were getting when

they traded for him nineteen months ago. Yeah, you know, it's it feels like it's it's taken so long to get that game, obviously from Ode Beckham, and there's so much pressure around it happening that had happened at the ideal time. Uh. You know. His first touchdown was trickery too, with Jarvis Landry unfurling a bullet down field to Odell in the in the end zone. And that kind of

was the theme to me. And it's and and we've we've mentioned this during Cleveland Start that the better players on this roster have stepped up and performed, which is really unusual. They've hadn't They've had a couple of name players throughout the years that have done the opposite. They come to Cleveland in their careers, fizzle. But it's Jarvis Landry, it's Odell Beckham, Um. You know, Myles Garrett his third straight game with a strip sack. I mean the defense

was a hot mess down the stretch. But Denzel Award with the game ending pick, and you've got Kareem Hunt coming in for an injured Nick Chubb Um in the running game, thriving with guys like Dernis Johnson stepping in. You know, they had three yards on the ground. They had two hundreds something versus the Bengals a couple of

weeks ago. You're playing a messy um defense in in Dallas, no questions about it, but I mean you went out and hammered them, and you know you can point to I would say this if you wanted to point to one way this game could have ended a little differently.

Baker Mayfield missed a wide open Odell Beckham Um right in that same world where they needed to save the game, and it was third down at Odell Belham was streaking down the field and Baker just got he had to get rid of the past, and he overthrew Odell and maybe we what we would be thinking about Baker Mayfield a little differently in this game. But his numbers are low and they're not they're just not leaning on him right now because they don't need to. But he didn't

throw an interception, he didn't make a key mistake. He's not the reason that they, you know, got this decimated by the Dallas offense and West you pointed out this number. I just think this is incredible through four weeks that Dak Prescott is on pace right now. No passer has ever crossed five five thousand, five hundred yards. He is on pace for six thousand, seven hundred and sixty yards

right now. These teams had nearly six hundred yards of offense at halftime, being they're an on site kick away from four for all those passing. That's the thing. It's getting wasted by a defense that I think definitely misses. Um, someone like Layton vander esh Jalen Smith is just not himself right now. And there are grumblings about this Mike Nolan defense saying that it's too complicated. Um, it's not

whatever it is, it is not working. I mean, it's it's the fourth strade game in a row, and you have to wonder how much longer if you're Mike McCarthy that you don't have You know, I have to scapegoat Mike Nolan at some point also because he's just simply not I'm not saying right now, I'm saying at some point, but I mean, how much worse can can it get?

I do. I love the way that they called that Beckham reverse and score because I think it showed some guts on the part of Kevin Stefanski, who is the first offensive play caller outside of the one brief season with Kyle Shanahan in Cleveland that maximizes these players. So you know, you don't have to wonder if they're gonna show up. I don't if they can keep this up, keep this kind of thing going. But this was an

impressive force. Your forced the way you want to play right on the Cowboys, and the Cowboys on defense did not have an answer. There's nobody walking through that door for the Cowboys. That's one reason why even if Dak Prescott is not going to maintain this pace, he still has a very good chance to set the all time record. M Well, they're plut The Browns are plus eight in turnover margin the last two weeks, so that that's gonna

be tough to keep going. They turned it over three strip but the running game and the offensive line being great, and I think that's possible to keep it going the rest of the year. When you play the Steelers twice, that will be tested. But there's no question right now that they are run blocking. When you can lose Chubb and it does and you run for three yards, forget about it. And McCarthy, by the way, deserves all the blame for hiring Nolan. I mean it's not like you

can like take like separate that out. Nolan was his coach, you know, on the oh five niners and what that's that's like his main decision. UM, And it's early, but you're you're they have way too much talent. I know they're not the most talented defense, and I had some concerns, um, but they still have some players on that side of the ball, and they are right now among the worst in the league. There was definitely like a fifteen minute stretch where I was convinced Cleveland was gonna lose, and

it was right around a point. I I never believe they were stopped leading. Whenever things start going well for the Browns, it's like the second they get ahead, it's like, okay, no more talking about you weren't sitting in your house today, Like as as the Dallas Cowboys put up twenty four unanswered points in the fourth guard quarter, being like, oh, this is okay, they'll be fine. No, I never, I never for a minute felt felt good about it. And

I do like watching Mike McCarthy on the sideline. I do think some of these coaches must love having to wear a mask because you can only imagine what the expression is for guys like him and Matt Patricia underneath the mask on on what I'm watching that it's like, thank God, no one can see the look of complete beguilements on my face. That's why that's what superstars do.

And I've been as hard on Odell Beckham as anybody going back to his giant's days, uh, because for all his talent, it really hasn't shown up as often in years now. And this was like a turn back the clock performance where because you knew his physical skills are all there. It's just a matter if I guess, putting it together and having the right set up to succeed. And he bailed out the entire team in this game.

There was a shot after the Cowboys pulled it to forty what was it fort after the two point conversion the Dak presscott run, they cut to the sideline. I don't know who the Browns players were, but they had this look on their face like, oh my god, we're gonna lose. That's it. This is a nightmare. We're gonna

be the laughing stock of the league. And you cut to the terrible pooch kick whatever that was on the ensuing kickoff, and then the all play bailed the whole team out, including Baker, because that was a terrible miss down the left sideline, and exactly the type of plays that lead to collapses for teams where you're like, okay, would have been fine if he just hits the wide open guy and the quarterback takes he takes the heat off Baker, he takes the heat off the defense. So

Odell deserves a lot of credit for that. And Mark, the Browns are three and one, three and one, Mark, Well, and I hope it's a legit three in one. I think that I would rather be a team that's, you know, running the ball the way they are than freaky finishes. All right, let's keep moving back to Josh Hallon. Don't try to building to seven part lead Allen taking a shot because we're a stroke of genius. Its Bureaudidas with the call to pre cbs. You know, I'm not saying

he's Randy Marks, because he's not. But I don't remember another wide receiver acquisition that has paid immediate dividends like Stefon digs of the Bills since Moss joined the path. The set records in two thousand seven with Tom Brady. Uh you heard there. At forty nine yard catch coming off a turnover sets up the clinching score for the Bills three win over the Raiders at the Death Star because they call it. The Raiders added a garbage time score here, But don't be fooled by the final tally.

The two teams played competitively in the first half, but the Bills dominated in the second half, and now they're four and oh as a result, and um Josh Allen puts the finishing touches on a stellar first quarter of a season three more touchdowns to passing. Uh this time, you know, he didn't have any of the head scratching mistakes mixed in. It was really solid effort. He got

came down awkwardly on his left shoulder. That obviously led to some nervous moments for Bills fans, but he came right back on the field at the end of the first half and finished the game. He's playing just incredibly well. So there's nothing about the Bills for or no start that leaves me thinking are they for real? Though? I think the Bills absolutely are for real. And like we said on the Thursday preview show, Um West that Alan hasn't just taken one step. I feel like he's taken

three steps. And you add him with Diggs, with this defense, with this coaching, and you have a Super Bowl contender. It's one of the most incredible metamorphosis we've ever seen at that position. You mentioned the decision making. Look how many things he's changed from last year to this year, and he improved from the previous year already. But the decision making. He had to improve touch, he's done that. He had to improve accuracy and ball placement, he's done that.

The degree of separation. These receivers are getting sometimes his minuscule and he's putting it right on the money. These were all issues he had to solve, and he's solving them. In addition to what you say that having a guy like digs on top of their other moves hitting too cool. Beasley was a big hit, Smoky Brown was a big hit. I mean, everything is going right and it's fun to see Brown's catching this game near the goal line was ridiculous.

I mean Diggs had a ridiculous catch. Uh, every one of their receivers really that you go down the list, like, made an incredible play. I thought this was Alan's best game because his accurate accuracy was so good. I thought it was his best day just throwing the ball because you're right West. I think in other weeks they did have a lot of separation. In this one, they're actually the receivers weren't that open and he was completing uh

tough passes. They're an Arena League team right now. I mean they're gonna score thirty and if they can get a couple of plays defensively, and today it came from Josh Norman forced to fumble and at Oliver got a fourth down stop and Quentin Jefferson got got a strip sack in the second half. Then that's all they need. And the concern, though Dan, is their defense is bad. I mean, there wasn't a stop in this game until five minutes left in the third quarter, and the Raiders

were the first team to make a stop. So that the history tells you mcdermottill coach him up um. But they're they're not playing well on defense. Considering how many people were out for the Raiders, actually thought they were coaching it up pretty well. But they've just made a lot of mental errors. The Raiders have in big spots. I wouldn't say they were dominant by any stretch one,

but they didn't. They literally didn't get a stop until almost the fourth quarter, a right, but it was thirty to sixteen with a minute and a half to play, so they were okay, it wasn't they And if you look at their numbers, they've struggled in the second half this season. They're not getting to the quarterback a lot. I agree with your point overall, but I thought they were in total control of this game by the midway

through the third quarter. I wonder like Brandon Being to me, I mean, he's the guy that a he goes and finds someone like uh Gabe Davis who also at wide receiver. You've got a whole another player that's starting to become a big part of the offense and made a great catch today. Brandon Bean's the guy that said I'm gonna roll the dice with Josh Allen, and that was a player that completely divided the scouting community and coaches and

everyone else. And the same way that when you get Russell Wilson changes what we think about shorter play callers. I mean, Josh Allen stands out as a really unusual type of player, but maybe it leads to more um uber athletes like that that need more polished being getting a getting a higher look in the draft, because you know, it's not crazy to think that a player can grow

between years two and three and three and four. And I mean the jump is astounding, But I mean it's the coaching around him, it's Josh Allen putting in the time. But I mean he fits so well. All these pieces fit so well together, and I just think Brandon Bean is like, is a big reason why someone this is happening It's so satisfying to have like supported this guy, Josh Allen all along and then West lock him up

today and he just backs us. It's just great to be part of the Bill's mafia and see this coming from from a mile away. I'm very um connected and it's a very personal thing the draft class for me because I root for Sam Donald team. And it did get me thinking less on Thursday night during another depressing UH Jets Donald game, that what would happen if Josh Allen was on the Jets? What if he went to

the ruined any one of them? I think? Right? And this is today nothing away from Josh Allen, but more to make a greater point about like this is a big part of football and successes landing in the right place, which these players have no control over. Josh Allen was fortunate to land with the Bill's team that was just on the rise, UH, and he is, you know, reaping the benefits of that. All right, let's move, Let's play action for dropping. Brady looks toward the edul Brady tost

and old j Howard makes to touch touchdown. Tampa Bay firelimp tannans Oh Jay on the runch dandy post. It's sex for the Bucks. We don't need to say. Oh J on the run ever again retired on the run talking about football players. Unfortunately, o J is not gonna be running for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers anymore this season. Uh. He suffered an achilles injury in this game, but not before he caught that twenty eight yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady that was, by the way, Gene Decker off

f us. Brady through for three d sixty nine yards and five touchdowns, each to a different receiver, helping the Bucks shake off a seventeen point early deficit and beat the Chargers thirty one. That's three straight wins for the Bucks after their season opening loss against the Saints. Mike Evans, Scotty Miller, Howard, Cameron Bradcasehaun Vaughan all scored on Brady

touchdown passes. Greg I don't remember seeing this version of TV twelve during his Patriots swan song in Yeah, how do you mean like a vertical game or just like shredding, you know, filling up a box score and just going nuts statistically in the game, not not since like the AFC Championship. You're right, Uh, he is on the perfect team because he can go through big slumps. I don't think the Bucks offense has played well this season. I don't think they're passing game has been really any better

than it was a year ago. He he struggled for the first half of this game, had about nine in the yards I think in his first twenty attempts, and they were trailing seven, and Joshua Kelly as they're just trying to run the ball out to end the half. The Bucks didn't have the timeouts to stop it. They're up seven, they're going into Atham. He fumbles the ball right near his own goal line, and then after that, you're right, it was the Brady that you wanted to

see in Tampa. I think after that it was t D T D T D field goal, field goal, field goal, something like that, where they did not get a stop the rest of the entire game, and they were and they were going bombs away. It was it was Bruce arians And I don't even know if Tom Brady was the best quarterback in this game. That's how good justin Herbert Spen. But when you're three and one and you finally get a week where the offense is the one that picks up the team, which was absolutely the case

in the second half. That that's good for the Bucks because they're winning games and I feel like they can get a lot better than they actually have been so far. We'll let West some wax poetic on Justin Herbert, who I you know, I know, I can tell he has um West's attention. But it was Arians who said after the game that he said, honestly, had this been last year, we would have gotten our buttspeet, and butts was a different word that he used by twenty points. So I

don't like. Maybe the offense was better last year in some ways, but they're gonna grow, and I mean they're in much better They're in a much better hands with Tom Brady at the head of the thing than than Jamis Winston. We saw a Jena piece get taken out in action today with Austin Ekeler. Boy, the change in that offense with him in there in short yarded situations, in two minuteural situations. Their ability to play situational football went out the door when when Ekeler got hurt, and

that really hurt them. But Justin Herbert is so fun to watch. I don't go into these sundays planning to watch the Chargers, and then you catch a couple of plays here, a series there, and you find yourself being pulled in by Justin Herbert and his playing style. The way he the way he beats Blitz is not by you know, the hot read five yards away, but by going over the top for forty yards and just not being afraid to attack defenses. He's the story. They've lost

three straight games, and somehow he's a story. He was so incredible in this game, and he threw an interception with a chance to go tie it down seven late before that, he had played almost perfect the deep ball, the touch. His running backs went sixteen for twenty uh sixteen carries for twenty yards after Ekeler got hurt. He's playing without eleven starters right now in the Chargers. I

mean they they are so banged up. Jalen Guiton, Tyler Johnson, Don Parham, Chicken parm I don't know what's going on. Like guys that you just don't know are making big plays for them. And a lot of it is just Herbert is so athletic um but has been really accurate for the most part. Two and uh, he you're I'm with us. He has been so fun to watch. They they they their injuries. I think I've ruined their season. Um, but Herbert at this point has given them so much

hope for the future. And what's the better what's better to see than the fact that he's making plays with these no namers versus you know, like completely, you know, have to wait a year to find out what he is. It kills them though, because they wanted their defense to carry them and it's just not gonna happen now. They they've just lost too many players. And I don't know if Bosta was on the injury report, he was totally erased today. The buck Sell line played great today. Yeah,

give Tristan Worth some credit. He's turned out to be. If four games mean anything, that's a home run draft pick. And justin Herbert was another guy like Josh Allen. I remember we were at the Combine and someone that is very well respected in that game that pre draft game, was like, oh yeah, I don't like Herbert. He's the only guy don't like. He was very divisive. Sure enough, the guy comes out of the gate like a mad bomber. He's been a lot of fun, much looking forward to feel.

They've lost every game by one score so far. Very chargers of them all. Right, let's move up. Hand off goes inside to look Murray looking for a team touchdown. Latavius Murray. Saints get great push again. Always a good sign when you see your card standing up in the end zone and Lottavius Murray puts his pads down and just drives a hole through that defense and from six yards out, Lottavius Murray with his second touchdown of the day.

Zack Streef with the call w w L Yeah. The Saints rode that COVID nineteen roller coaster this weekend, came out smiling on the other side. Latavius Murray's six yards score was the final five consecutive touchdowns for the Saints, who wiped out an early two touchdown deficit and win over the Lions. As I said at the top of the show, Saints bullback Michael Burton had a false positive test for the coronavirus on Saturday, leading to another round

of test for players and staff overnight in Detroit. Burton said, just a lot of emotions going on, because you never want to be a distraction. They had to wake up other guys and test them, factoring in the background noise, the absence of multiple members of the secondary and of course Michael Thomas. That's a nice win for the Saints, wasn't it, Mr Ceciler. Yeah, I mean it's they overcame

a lot. You mentioned it. I think Sean Payton all these coaches have to say, you know, this season when it comes to COVID, we just have to not and accept any scenarios. But you know, there used to be the old thing where uh you know, rowdy Dennison's of a town would go pull the fire alarm in the

visiting team's hotel. But this this is a whole different deal when it's attached to something that could be grave or canceled the game in general, and they got down fourteen nothing, and it was a very Lions this game on that front too, because they get down fourteen nothing and at that point in the in the second Lion's touchdown came off a breeze picked or a tipped pass

that wound up as an interception. Uh. Then though New Orleans minus many starters got on a tear because they went on five straight touchdown drives thirty five unanswered points for they weren't quirky either. Four of those drives went for more than seventy five yards. And we all get where Drew Brees is at at this point, and he's still to me as a little bit of a thousand yards stare where I think he kind of gets where he's at two. But he was more effective in this game.

He he looked different than he had in weeks past. He was deadly accurate on intermediate routes. Um, I think next Gen Stats had him at let me find it here. Well, next Gen Stats liked what he did on intermediate routes that he was really good. Um, I will football, he was really good, but it's you know. What was good

to see was like Emmanuel Sanders stepping up. Tray Kwon Smith, who looked like he was going to get knocked out of the game with an injury at one point, made some great catches in this so they got enough from justin just the right people. Alvin Kamara helped him out. This game also was a score of Gami, which is one of those um unique NFL scores that have never occurred before, and that is the fifth and fifty seven

scoring combination in the NFL that kind of stuff. I like, um As for the Lions, they looked the same to me on offense every week. It's like you're leaning on like Adrian Peterson is still good, okay, but like this offense there's no offense should be centered around Adrian Peterson right now. And they get a few plays from Kenny Golladay and they they're trying to you know, t J. Hockenson is becoming a little bit of a thing. But Matt Patricia, come on, dude, I mean, like this is

the same thing every week. You get up by double digits, you get you let it all go. And I mean this this was right for the Picking had they just you know, hung on, hung onto it. And the Saints were a little they were they were they just had to be better coached, they lean on better depth, and they came up in a game where there would have been all the excuses to crumble here you could have pointed to eight or nine different things, and they come out with the win. I mean, they've lost the lines

of lass sixth straight leading by double digits. There's there's obviously maybe this shouldn't be obvious, but there's never been an NFL team to do that. I mean that it's it's it's outrageous. They're heading into a bye week. I mentioned the Bucks scored four touch duns in a row. You said the Saints did five a row. I mean, I don't know. It's a new forward owning the team right now. You don't know if she's gonna jump in and and want to make a big splash in week four.

What's what's really the point? But it's ugly. I think Camara is back to being the number one running back in the league, and I don't even know if he looks great. Well, you've embraced Mark fantasy in a way that none of us could have expected this year. So I'm sure you know that he is lapped the field against other running backs in terms of fantasy scoring because he is, especially with Michael Thomas out of the lineup,

and hopefully that won't be too much longer. Now he seems to be on track to play this week, and then over the weekend he was ruled out, but he has been a major part of the passing game, and I you know, we'll see, we'll see where they are at the end of the season. But lest I know, you've been very big on Drew Brees and the arm strength and and all that. But am I gonna be stunned if they end up as a top ten offense according to various metrics. I won't be. I think they'll

end up top ten to me. To me, they'll be top ten. But then in big moments against a better defense, are you? We know the quarterbacks limited he has been for a couple of years. This offense goes through Camara and Thomas, not the quarterback. I would love to have a great regular season offense. The route for you, It's like last year they lost Breeze and Teddy came in and he was Teddy and they showed again at the

very resilient they can win with depth and backups. But now they look kind of like the Teddy Bridgewater offense with Drew Brees at quarterback. To me, big win, let's move rivers Field throws the Molalle Cox ferrels forward across the goal line, touchdown mo Alee Cox Matt Taylor w f N I with the call. Moley Cox is having a breakout season with the big score. Julian Blackman's interception

Nick Foless a killer for the Bears. Quarterback. We struggled to move the offense and his first start since replacing Mitch Drabinski, if I will score nineteen to eleven Coults over the Bears a soldier field. West Indie has been winning with their defense so far this season. More of the same on Sunday, it looks like, well, I think they're you know how the Cowboys struggled at all three levels of their defense. I think the Colts really do

well at all three levels. DeForest Buckner had another dominant game. Darius Leonard got injured, but he's been there at linebacker, Justin Houston at linebacker. And then this Julian Blackman if they drafted in a third round, came in from Malik Hooker uh in Week two and has been an upgrade. He this guy is a natural ball hawk. Uh. He

and Xavier Rhodes both playing great in the secondary. And if a team like the Steelers is sort of like sharks with chum in the water, I think the Colts defense is more like a constrictor, like a like a python. They just suffocate you, They squeeze the life out of you. And they did it again today. And if you know um Full said this week, Frank Reich is the guy

who made him a player. It reminded me sort of like an old school dad saying I brought you into this world and I'll take you out too, because Frank's defense knew how to stop Nick Foles well. And on the Front West it was Blackman who said that Frank Reich prepared their defense so well for fools, so in it, you know it bit them too, and it's just, uh, you know, I think this This game also squeezed the

life out of some viewers. According to Dan, some reaction to Yeah, I said on Twitter that one day I'll tell my grandchildren that this game was the most boring board I ever was. I couldn't I had it on my secondary screen. And apparently we're gonna get to a game later that a lot of people are coming back with saying even worse. But then it led to kind of a fun thread where people started sending me some box scores of other super boring going back years. Everybody

has them. Uh they stick to your mind when they're truly wretchedly boring for whatever reason, and this one was that way for me. Cults have been boring for three weeks. Winning boring, I guess that that's fine, They're gonna play some real offenses. These are two of the only teams in the league where I think you can look at and say, like, oh, they have defenses. Like I it feels like there's only like six or seven defenses at most, and these are two of them. But is there West

you watch? What's your level of panic um with t Y Hilton? Because t Y Hilton's he said that he retired three weeks ago. I thought he actually played really well today. Uh, he had one he came down with. I think he I think he brought another penalty um, but he I thought he played well today. But I did identify the Colts fatal flaw this year. What is it? It's the red zone offense. And if you look at look at the pickles at Josh Allen puts defenses in in the red zone the way he can take a

quarterback draw, he can take a roll out. Um, he can squeeze passes in the tight windows. How many of those things and Philip rivers do He can't beat you with his legs and he can't squeeze passes in the tight windows. So what does that leave you in the red zone? This is a struggling offense down there. Hey, Philip Rivers, what uh do you say to the red zone struggles that your team is faced? Does it bother you though? Oh yeah, I get it. I feel that. I feel it. Man. There was one play West I

tweeted about it and then you replied. And whenever West replies to something I tweet from an analysis standpoint and he agrees with me, I feel good about it. Um it was they were in the red zone and you know, the pocket collapse, no one's open, he goes to escape. He's so slow. Oh my god, I mean he is. I would think that Brady might even be faster than like late period Eli Mannings got him beat. He just moves in slow motion, so there's no adding extra, you know,

stealing yards and turning. You know, Josh Allen type theatrics out on the Colts offense. It need to be more precise. We have a term for that. And I think Joe Bacco helped us get there, which is stone age pony. And I mean Rivers can still do some some things well, but you know, dancing around nimbly is not one of those. I mean, he was one of the slowest quarterbacks. I

think um the day he entered the league. And he's been playing in the and and and at no. I think he's maybe been the slowest quarterback in the league the whole time he's been in it. And now it's sixteen years in. That's it's not gonna be any faster. It's like David Ortiz trying to score from first on a double in two thousand seventeen. At a certain point, it almost becomes a story when someone gets that slow. But it's fun. It's fun. It makes us relate to

the men. You know, sometimes West trying to score from first on the shield. You know, we were popping hamstrings trying to get around the basis, snapping like dry twigs. All right, let's move on. Jackson will keep it on the read option. He's got a whole forty Like Grace, He's gonna go to a dead stand for like four years, and then you run to first base. Sometimes your leg implodes. She really wanted that back, all right. That was Jerry

Sandusky with the called w B A l Lamar. Jackson ran for a fifty yard touchdown his career, along which surprised me. I thought he might have had like a ninety nine yarder in there at some point since he was a rookie, and he threw for two scores as well. And a bounced back performance by the reigning NFL m v P and the Ravens as a whole. They take control early against the Washington football team and coach to a seventeen win coming off a humbling loss obviously to

Kansas City on Monday night. But this Baltimore team, this is the team that does massive damage during the regular season. You could see it, like you can see how they they're sphincters tightened up on Monday night. But when things go in the opposite way, they play so loose and they play so confidently. Uh that do you understand why things go right for them? You know like Sam conscious Jean yard completion on fourth and nine on a fake punt throw, Like I don't think John Harborough had the

onions to pull that on Monday night. I thought that they were tight as a team. But when you're playing Washington, this is when the Ravens look absolutely impossible to to be I will say that. Uh, the defense, you would have thought they would absolutely have their way with Dwayne Haskins,

but that wasn't quite the case. Haskins actually through for a career high three fourteen yards, but a lot of it was checkdowns and Antonio Gibson doing the hard work for Haskins, and a deep ball late in garbage time west to your boy the star wide receiver whose name I'm forgetting scary Terry McLaurin. Um, So don't put too much stock into the yardage by Washington. They weren't competitive, and there was one play in particular, UM a fourth

and goal early in the fourth quarter. It's a two score game where Haskins locks on a guy in the flat uh and throws about nine yards short of the end zone and uh the guy gets pushed out of bounds because three guys were converging on him as he caught the ball and they cut as as CBS or as fox goes to break or CBS. It was. You see Ron Rivera turn his back to the camera and

just like stalk back to the bench. And I don't know he could have been doing or saying any number of things, but I'm wondering if what's going on in his head is like this guy doesn't even know that he needs to throw to the end zone on this play. The game's over after that play, or there were reports

before the game that they were. Ian Rappaport reported they were gonna pull Haskins if he struggled, and he opened with a punt, a turnover in the punt, So I wonder how close they came to yanking him before they missed a field goal and then scored, you know, then they then he picked it up a little bit. But yeah, the turnover, it wasn't on him. The turnover was a forced fumble by Marlon Humphreys that led to a touchdown. But yeah, Haskins, it was like a c performance that

probably will keep him in the lineup. But again, you know, keep an eye on that situation. It's tough for the

Ravens because you compare them to last year. And I'm happy um to hear you say, Dan, you thought it was dominant, because I looked at this starting the game and and I just I'm comparing it to this team that was historic, and I think, wow, you you come out against Washington, you punt two of the first three possessions and then you need a fake punt to score on the next one, and Lamar's thrown an interception right before halftime, and the yardage is pretty close, you know, throughout,

and it's almost unfair because you're comparing them to that offense. But like last year, it feels like in this game they go forty five on you you know, probably think, I mean, it was dominant in the sense of like this game was never in doubt and they took care of business. But this wasn't the type of Ravens performance became accustomed to last year. That's fair any other questions

about this game. I don't know what's going to happen the quarterback situation, but that was a get right game for Lamar Jackson and uh I, whom they will continue to get right next week against. It's so weird that Washington's tied for you know it pending the result of the Sunday night game. We taped this a little earlier. It's like Washington's, you know, right in the mix. I mean, that's you know, one and three. Someone's gonna win the division.

Going five and eleven, maybe they'll still be in the mix, you know, in December, but I'm just kidding. Its ugly. By the way, the Ravens lead the NFL and points off turnovers the season with thirty eight, so they do that. They still do a bunch of things. Well, I think it was a bump in the road on Monday night, and it's one that could cost them, as we talked about with playoff positioning. But they'll continue to beat up all these teams that are beneath them. The Ravens are

gonna be Okay, let's move on. If a runner went to the ground, the ball hit the ground and moved, thank you for an incomplete path. Thank you, first down ball bites are in the win column. That's the best we could do on the for the call here, I heard it. That was it. I mean, that was the game. That was the type of ending that the Vikings got. I think we're gonna have to enhance the vetting process starting in week five and these calls, I mean, that's

this is what type of game it was. Paul Allen with the call for k f A and Mike Zimmer's struggling d got to stop it needed as you just heard, and Dalvin Cook ran for a hundred and thirty yards and two touchdowns for the Vikings, who beat the Texans thirty one to three. Greg The road killed game has produced the expected result, one team lives to fight another day, and one team, the one coached by Bill O'Brien, is

headed to the NFL's equivalent of the Pet Cemetery. They are in a division where the culture three and one, the Titans are three and oh you know, the Texans are oh and four, and the Dolphins have their first two picks next year. And I thought that call was perfect, Dan, I'm gonna argue for it because neither team left this I think feeling so good. I mean the call. The game ended on an overturned call of Will Fuller in

the end zone. David Johnson was half a yard short of of time of you know, giving them the Texans a chance to go for a two point conversion. What would have been a big time collapsed by the Vikings defense. They have the ball half a yard short on second down, then Johnson fumbles it on a pitch uh, And they eventually get it to Fuller, who you think maybe was gonna like make an amazing play, and they overturn it

on review. And it's just like that reaction to me from the Vikings is almost perfect because it's like, well, we gotta win, you know. That's that's it. That's all we got. West is giving me the thumbs down the whole sequence. You know, it's your point, Craig Like, there's a friend of mine named Eric who is a longtime listener to this show. He listens to every episode and he's a Vikings hardcore fan, and he said, here is my takeaway from the game that Mike Zimmer and Gary

coop back should be in totally hot water. Despite the win, that feels like it's floated. Well, I mean, you know we're looking at the season on whole, but that this is this is a team headed in the wrong direction no matter what happened today against a lost Texans team, well defensively, defensively, it's absolutely true, and I don't know if they're gonna be able to fix it. Daniel Hunter might be out half the season. We'll see. Offensively, I think they have a lot to be excited about the

last two weeks. Their offense has played very well um the last two weeks, especially today today it was even better. Kirk Cousins had a really good day justin Jefferson. They found something. I know. It doesn't feel like the Stefon Diggs trade was a win win, but you did get a bunch of picks, a lot of picks, and you drafted Justin Jefferson, and man, he looked awesome today. Uh,

Dalvin Cook is running, you know. I know Alvin Kamara has been the best running back, but the last two weeks, Dalvin Cook has broken a tackle almost every single run. And that zone running scheme that Kubiak is, you know, brought to bring in, it's taken hold because they're running against eight man boxes and it's the angles that they're running is are beating those boxes. So I think their offense has some good things to feel good about, but but the defense probably is not gonna like allow them

to make the playoffs. Check out this um this Viking upcoming schedule. I'll see what's going on at Seattle on Sunday night next week. Tough Spots home versus Falcons at Green Bay Home versus Lions at Bears. Okay, I mean they're probably to figure out a way to go. Gotta beat the Packers, and you gotta beat the Packers and Bears and or else, h you're in trouble. That that ending,

though it was unfortunate. Deshaun Watson cooked in the second half, but he but he really struggled in the first But I just want to point out how bad this Texans defense is. They don't have a turnover this year, and they're just like fatally they don't have a turnover. I don't know if J. J. Watts hurt um. He was on the injury report earlier this season, but he wasn't this week. He hasn't played every snap like he normally does, and he certainly you know, hasn't made big plays. But

they're so slow. This is such a slow defense, and and you have two inside linebackers playing every down, Zach Cunningham can't cover and Bernardrick McKinney. They're one of the worst rush defenses, if not the worst in the league, and they just are beating them to the outside. They're just so slow, and so it just feels like a fatal construction of this up. They're up through the slow years. Well they're gonna cut, Yeah, they're gonna cut McKinney, I

think after this year. But I don't see how this defense figures it out. It's just it's ugly. Who don't try to convince me to start believing in the Vikings this season. I'm just not gonna do. No, I was wrong. I wasn't going there. I was just defending Kobayat because I think you can absolutely see um some good things about their offense the last two weeks. That's all. But the team does not look great. T Y Hilton, J. J. Watt A J. Green Superstar club is gonna have to

make some painful decisions. You know what started the season pretty good. So I'm I'm I'm leaving some room here. But the last two weeks have been tough. All right, Let's move up. Jones has his Giants at the long, has his snap steps up right at the twenty. He fires to the five. It is intercepted Darius Williams a diving interception the clinch. It's with fifty two seconds remainings. He had the diving pick in Philadelphia in the end zone, and here AT's so Fi Stadium he does it again.

There he is elite mench There you go, Greg J. B. Long KSPN with the call. Big interception there of Danny Dimes and Jared Goff hit Cooper Cup earlier in quarter on a fifty five yard touchdown that allowed the Rams to grind it out nine over the Giants and Mark. The only thing that people are ever going to remember about this game is the Jalen Ramsey Golden Tate brawl post game. It's the only thing anybody's gonna talk about because it's highly salacious, it's a family matter, and it's

spilled out into the public forum on Sunday. Yeah, and it's you can go look up what the family matter is if you if you'd like, Um, so I'll tell you. How about I'll tell you we're gonna be basically Golden Tate. I can't even dignify bringing it because that's coming because we were told by emails. No, we were told by email not to dig into it. But like, I'm sure

no one's listened to this thing. So basically, like Golden Tates sister was with Jalen Ramsey and when she was Mark spilling tea right now, well, probably I won't be on the show anymore. It's like because we you know, we we can't possibly follow the rules of NFL dot com. But there was an issue between these two because Jalen Ramsey basically walked away from Golden Tates sister while she was pregnant to be with what they're describing as a Las Vegas dancer. I don't I don't think that means

like a you know, up on stage like a girl. Yeah, and let think it's probably more in that world. But beyond that, um, they've had bad blood for it's been going on for a while. They have not encountered each other on the field. Today they did. And it's interesting that the play of the game, because Dan, this is probably the game that many people were writing to you saying this was the most boring game people have witnessed.

And I'm sure you know in the league, officers are thinking, how special that we finally get to have Los Angeles and New York are two special markets clash on in a four o'clock spot, and it was making people's eyes bleed. So you know, like, actually, it's New Jersey enough, we get it, Western New York. You're the only New York

team on Twitter. We get this. The Rams were in an absolute stupor and it was ten to nine with about ten minutes to go, and the Giants were basically they were they were looking better on the ground than Los Angeles and they were moving the ball and that is when Jalen Ramsey slam Golden Tate down on a third down catch that basically gave Golf and the offense one more shot to kind of turn this thing around.

And that's when the Cooper Cup catch happened, and you know, then the Rams had another chance to come out and they had a three and oh, so like they never really got it together, and I kind of look at I don't even it doesn't really change what I think about the Rams that much, because I think the good teams are gonna have one of these games a year where it's like, you just they were in a total

funk the entire time. These teams were bickering the whole time, though Aaron Donald got into a fight with someone, there were stuff on the sideline. Then this thing erupted at the end. So I wonder if it's just it was a really ugly, ugly game and one where if you're the Rams, i'd want to see why that was. But I wouldn't take too much out of it other than the fact that I would always be suspicious when like on our show on on Thursday, we all kind of

like ticket did this as a Rams blowout. And then on Friday, I was watching some shows in the in the predictions for the Rams blowouts were getting bigger and bigger, like they're just gonna take New York out thirty eight to seven seven, Like then we know it's not gonna happen, and it didn't in the Giants, like their defense for the fact that I would imagine most people couldn't name three people on that defense. They were frisky in this game, and you can kind of see the makings of something

happening on that side of the ball. But the offense lacks any direction right now. I mean, they're just it's they're a messy team. I am obviously from New York and many of my friends growing up are Giants fans. And there has been a sea change on text around Danny Dimes very quickly. Uh. They're starting to turn on the young passer and in general on the Giants and Dave Gentleman and and they're getting psyched up about the idea of Trevor Lawrence and being in that hunt tank

for Trevor. Uh it is you know, if you take out that first half of Week one on Monday night, uh, and you actually go all the way through and midway through the third quarter against the Steelers where he had that nine yard drive that ended with the interception. From that interception on Jones has been kind of a mess, and that is that's probably the final nail in the

coffin of that. If you go watch this game, and there were times Jared Goff didn't look well today because he was not well protected, and so you know, it's systemic. It's what's around him, and you've lost se Kwan Barkley, the heart and soul of your offense. And you know,

Jones creates a lot of his own problems. We know that, but there were there were certain plays where like everything was crumbling around him, and it's like young quarterbacks typically are not going to survive in that atmosphere to to begin with. That's I thought, Dan, that was a harsh assessment. And I think the the offense has been crumbling around him the entire season. The offensive line has been terrible, historically bad rushing attack. Um, they only moved the ball

the previous week on design quarterback runs. I mean it was he's got a lot on his plate. I I do think it's been crumbin around him, but it's it's I mean, they less yards and uh, you know the Cowboys had these two teams. I mean, the Rams had two yards. That's one of the most surprising things, uh

of the week. But I'm with you, market. I think when with these seasons in general with the NFL, it's like, okay, one week, you just give them Mulligan two weeks as a trend, and then and then you see what's happening. They're they're three and one. They they these NFC West teams and we're gonna get to one that hasn't done a good job of it. They have favorable out of division schedule, so they have to take advantage when they're playing the cream Puffs. Uh. And you know they did

it enough today. Let's check in with another undefeated team in our league. And Rush Russell looks right side, got him out of the hands of reaching up making me catch. David Moore? Is he in for the touchdown? Here's David Moore? Are men? David Moore is another guy they have. That's Steve rabel k I r O with the call. He had three catches for ninety five yards, including that game clinching touchdown for the Seahawks and a thirty one to

twenty three win over the Dolphins. And this game was closer than the Desert anticipated uh, but not for the reasons that I thought it would be a close game too. We talked about it on Thursday, but I thought it'd be more of a high scoring game with Seattle's defense continuing to struggle. But there was progress for Seattle's defense in this game. Uh. They delivered a much better performance here.

They actually kept Miami out of the end zone until the game's final minutes, which made the score uh look closer. But this was I believe a seventeen fifteen or seventeen sixteen Seattle lead in the fourth quarter before they pulled away. Um. So the Seahawks will take anything positive around their defense right now because they're essentially just like the Cowboys are a great offense with a horrific defense, and they're one in three. Seahawks maybe aren't as bad on defense as

Dallas has been. They've had some better moments, but they have they have a similar problem where they're fantastic on offense, can't get stops on defense. But they were better today and their four and o now for the second time ever in their season, and Russell Wilson is matching Peyton Manning's touchdown record pace through the first four games of the season. What do you have to hold on too?

If you're a Dolphins fan, you think right now not to go negative, but well, I like Florris, but I don't. I just don't know what it is this team. It just feels like a It feels like a second straight transition year. I guess. Yeah. I was thinking about that after the game, because especially when you talk about the quarterback position, because Fitzpatrick has been good on balance. Again, he's steady, he's fun to watch. He has his up moments, he has his down to moments. He's Ryan Fitzpatrick. But

you're one in three. If if TWA is healthy, wouldn't you at this start to begin thinking about the process of turning it over and beginning to evaluate him and kind of officially start this next era of Dolphins football. I don't know, maybe the hip injury that's suffered in college. I know he's cleared and all that, and I think he was the backup quarterback on Sunday, which is a

sign again they believe that he's healthy. You just wonder, even though Ryan Fitzpatrick has been Ryan Fitzpatrick, whether they're getting closer to that decision. Yeah, I've wondered if they were waiting to see let Ryan Fitzpatrick play to see how good the rest of the team was and whether it's worth rushing him in there behind you know, probably the rawest offensive line there is, UM, but they've outperformed expectations. I think up front. Yeah, the defense they want to get.

You know, they have a lot of young players and defense, a lot of free agent additions, so I think they're they're hoping that they improve as the season goes along,

but they're they're not there yet. I mean the Sea I just look at the Seahawks being four now and you think of who's undefeated in the NFC, and it's just like, wow, this this NFC playoffs is gonna be I know it's a little early for this, but it's just kind of amazing to think that the playoffs could be Rogers, Russ, Brady Breeze, Um, you know mcveigh's maybe maybe he gets back in there or whatever. It's just

like the quarterbacks, it's outrageous. I like the idea of like the the top heavy Seahawks, you know, getting a top seed. Yeah, we were I know we're not allowed to talk MVP talk on the show, Greg, you've decided that, but the quarter poll, you can at least like do the m v P of the quarter. How about the Well I was gonna talk about, you know, the all pro call that I made with Aaron Rodgers, which I feel good about. But then you look at like, what else is going on? How many guys get all pro

to right too? Okay, so you have what Dak Prescott's doing, you have what Russell Wilson's doing, you have what Josh Allen's doing. I mean, even a great season by Aaron Rodgers. There's some truly badass that would be fourth right now, which is crazy. He would not. I think that the other three would would be votes. Doc would be fourth out of that group, but I think he would be thrown for seven thousand yards. Well, I'm just saying that you had to vote today. If they had to vote today,

I think that's what would happen. Yeah, I don't think that's the top four m VP guy. Um, And good to see Chris Carson out there, by the way, he was a game time decision after he got his knee twisted. He actually scored twice average five yards of carry, so that's also good news. Uh. And We'll see Seahawks get Jamal Adams back next week and start to get healthier and can turn this into a trend that the defense is on the up swing. Good battle by the Dolphins,

but not good enough. All right, are we bringing on our friend Nick Shook? Now? Is at that time of the show. It's time for the handoff too, handsome bald whites. Only one can stay on the show though one must arrive, then one must leave zero some game with our handsome bald whites. Yeah, Chuck looking fresh, the beard is looking well cut. No, I like it alright. Bathtime for me. We'll see like a little game. Bath time. He's gonna light some candles, burn some incense, and take a bath.

I never I haven't taken a bath since I was a child, because I find the idea of a bath repulsive, Like it's you're basically going there to cleanse yourself, but you're bathing in your own filth. You gotta you wash yourself first and then you fill up the bat How many people would wash the bath first because it's also other people's feet, and you know people taking a lot of baths. Greg, I mean that's what you do, You wash yourself first and then you fill it up. That's

the move. Well I like that. I can't even I've gotten it's got increasing the words for me where I'm not really going in too many public pools either. I think about it too much. Maybe it's having kids and you realize just how gross uh younger humans are and then half the older humans the hygiene is probably not where it needs to be. Chuck, where are you on this before we get into the next gun. I mean, I feel like that's just a waste of um water and in a long process. I mean, if you're out

to really relax, I guess you do that. I will say my grandparents live out in rural Ohio and they built their house. I think like when I was an infant or whatever, and part of the house construction was this really nice bathtub with jets in it, and that is an experience that is worth taking a bath. But if we're here strictly to efficiently clean yourself and you've got other stuff to do, baths out of the equation,

of course, not right. I mean, I think West is doing it for instance, not He's not like I must clean my body. He's doing it for the for the sensation of being in warm water, which essentially takes us back to the room, which Greg's excuse for his daily back. I don't take any actually at my house because it's too small. Um, but I've taken Yeah, I'm just saying that's that's the move. Um. And West doesn't and watch

his game pass, which is next level. He puts on like he's getting justin Herbert out there, maybe a bottle of conditioner nearby, and he's going to town. And then the other thing is get too excited. This is also, you know, factored in my thoughts on it. When you have two young sons and they share a bath together and sometimes it's like, oh, Harry, did you did you use the party before you got And he's like, no, you know what happened. They don't care. These kids don't care.

All right, choke, thank you for joining us. We got you set up with a couple of games here before Sunday night football. So let's dig in now. Borrow will line up in the shotgun, even though it's third and less than a yard. He'll hand it to Mixing the Touchdown Show Mixing and the Bengals his third of the day. Dan Dan Poor, Dann Poor or is it board Joe Mixon. He spent part of his weekend in the hospital mysterious

chest pains, but he looks fine. On Sunday Restaurant hundred fifty one yards carriage with two touchdowns, had another touchdown on a swim pass reception from Joe burrowin over the Jaguars shook. That was the first win of Burrow's career. But the story here is Joe Mixon breakat performance. So for the entire season up to this week, the Bengals had inexplicably gone away from Joe Mixon and it didn't

make any sense, especially with the rookie quarterback. What are the two things he you have a rookie quarterback to try to make him feel comfortab especially when you don't have a good offensive line. One is a titan and you can rely on. Two is a reliable running games that he doesn't have to drop back fifty times a game, which is what the Bengals primarily did for the first three weeks. Then around halftime today it's like somebody went down to the sideline of Paul Brown Stadium grab Zach

Taylor by the shirt. Social distancing totally violated him around twice and said, hey, you got Joe Mixon on your roster, give him the football. So he did. Times one carries two touchdowns. The first touchdown kind of serving is the score that broke through the wall for the Bengals, I think through this season because far too often, and especially in the first half Sunday, their offense just ran into these issues and they got down on the red zone.

It just felt a little constrained. It's almost like they tried to do too much. And then they said, all right, well, let's hand the ball to Joe Mixon, let's dump it off to him, Let's figure out way to get him the football. He scores on the right side, takes a shot after he scores, and it was like, oh, we forgot we had this guy. Look what he can do. And they wrote him the rest of the way to

a Big three. And what this game really looked like before that point was very much what last week's game that ended in a tie with the Eagles look like. Then they scored with mixing and it's like they just opened the floodgates or just opened their own expectations or understanding of reality that hey, we can score the floor. You know, we can score I hate score the football or score the basketball, by the way, even though I almost just said that, uh, and we can win a game.

And they won a game, so you know, good for them, and finally realizing that they have a good running back in their team. But always the go ahead, Greg, no you go. I wunna say. Burrows the first player in NFL history that to open his career with with three straight like with multiple three yard games like this, And I mean, he just seems like he looks the part. And it's been a terrible situation for him. I mean,

he's been under darrest NonStop. And I'm totally with you that they should have used mixing more than they have. But I mean it's like record aside some of these teams, Like you know, if you're if you're a Chargers fan with Justin Herbert, if you're Bengals fan with Joe Burrow, it's like the sun is still shining very brightly because of what you found under center. Yeah, of course, And and he was impressive again, and he totally looks the part.

He's the real deal. I mean, I in all the games that I've watched him, he looks like a guy that you were right in spending the first, you know, number one overall pick on which oftentimes we've seen teams spend high picks on quarterbacks. You just don't look the part when they get the NFL. Joe Burrow looks like he's been the NFL for five years, and he did

again Sunday. But the problem was, as they were trying to rely way too much on him in weeks past and going away from Joe Maxon and expecting Burrow to win the game single handling and with the offensive line that they have, he just hasn't been able to do that. He's gotten him close. He got him close against Cleveland, he got him close against Philly, even got him close

in Week one against Los Angeles. This time he finally they finally went way not away from him, but they used somebody other than just Joe Burrow and it put them over the top. Now, the Jaguars, I mean they were exciting for the first two weeks. The last two weeks are the team that we expected to see and I think the team that rent to see for the majority of the season. It was a close game for a while, we were in the tie zone kind of.

It was very much in play because they neither were really doing much and they were with been a score before the Bengals kind of finally pulled away. There were a few times in the first HAF two in the red zone where Joe Burrow had a chance to put the ball in the end zone. One time it was a really nice pick by Myles Jack who ripped the ball out of Drew Sample's hands. The other time they just couldn't get it in there, uh and had to resort to Randy Bullock field goal. So again, he's mean,

he's he's the guy. They have, their quarterback. They just have to fix everything around him, or at least use the weapons around him, and Joe Mixon is a big part of that. Well, they're not gonna play the Jaguars every week. That's a difference. I mean, they did four players over twenty yards in the first three weeks. For as much as Burrow as look good, they have the lead, they were by far the least explosive offense, and like I think they had eight or nine today. I watched

this game by mistake thinking it was my assignment. Whoops, um, But I'm glad I knocked it out. They're very similar teams. To me, and the difference was, Uh, the decision making by Burrow is pristine when he's protected. I mean, you can't fault this offensive line today. He was protected pretty

well today. Uh, and obviously got helped with the running game, whereas Minshoe had a couple of decisions when he chose to run on a third down um that ended up in punts and they were bad decisions, and the interception he threw was a bad decision. He played really well. I would say overall, they just have a very small

margin for error this defense. And so if you make a couple and you have a coach who doesn't seem to realize what kind of team he has, you know, punting on fourth and short and kicking field goals on fourth and show you know, Ma Maron. Sometimes he's like he's playing to a defense that's not there. Gruden. Gruden does that too, poking around the box score here, Shook, I'm seeing because we brought him up earlier, so I'll bring him up again. A J. Green had one catch

for three yards on five targets. Is there anything they had receptions? Overall? The team for three Higgins looks good, right, Yea. His name just not a part of the game plan anymore, or was he injured or what He was a focus at Jacksonville's game plan for sure. Very often when he was tired, it seemed to be at least two defenders in the area. There was a couple of times where he was completely blanketed and couldn't come down with the catch. But you're right, like Greg said, Tee Higgins was a

big party. He looked good at age. Tyler Boyd was a big part as well. They were the two guys who got the ball the most. Joe Burrow does a very good job, especially for a rookie, for not looking to a J. Green and not relying on that. He's surveying the field and he's finding his open men, which I mean this Bengals team, if they were just a little bit better probably defensively, uh and could avoid you know, becoming too reliant on Burrow, they could win some full

competitive competitive right now every game they've been in. Also fair to ask you give Burrow credit for that, but it's possible that a J. Green is washed too right and he's not getting open anymore because he doesn't have the ability he once had. I mean, also John Ross is a healthy scratch weeks in a row. I mean, I feel like that guy's out the door. What is

it hashtag gradual decline. I don't know if that's entirely true with A J. Green, but yeah, he has not been a big part of this offense for the majority. So you know what the Browns messed up last year shook when you were a team employee, and we still need to get the full details what led to your early exit there. But if if they had you as the muscle you're talking about somebody that needs to go down to the sideline and straighten out a head coach,

it doesn't have his head on straight. If you were going down there and slapping around Freddie Kitchens, tell him to get the ball to Nick chubbmore and Cream Hunt and all this, maybe the Browns would have been a playoff team last year. Well, I mean Freddie and I had a pretty solid relationship. That wasn't the issue. The issue was they had too many cooks in the kitchen there in the on the offensive stuff. You could take

out multiple cooks. I mean, you know, I think we all we all see where you're at physically, Like multiple cooks would not be in this maybe they had one too many kitchens in that building as well. Yeah, I would never be I would never be an enforce or with Todd Mulkin. Have you seen him. He's a skinny guy. He's a nice guy. You know, he's he's an offensive wizard at the college level. Now stuff, you know, we're all good. I was gonna get in there cause problems.

All right, let's move on. Bridgewater retreats, climbs the pocket. It's gonna run with it. Bridgewater cups to the right at the Bridgewater to the five. Unbelievable Teddy Bridgewater House is from twenty one yards away. Sneaky fast. Mcmixon and Kirk Coleman called w BT Teddy Bridgewater. He's sneaky fast. The Panthers QB scrambled and joked his way to an eighteen yards scoring Ruth added two passing scores win over

the Cardinals. The Panthers cool off the Cardinals. Actually, the Cardinals have cooled up precipitously after that two and oh start shook. That was Teddy's first rushing TV since that devastating knee injury back in the summer of sixteen. He's an amazing story. Yeah, he certainly is, and he had he was very sharp today. You gotta give a lot of credit to the game plan put together by Joe Braid and the way he called the offense today. I thought for every situation he had an answer to whatever

Arizona presented him with defensively. And this is one of those games where you're seeing two middling teams or below middling, and the coaching comes out as a difference, and the Panthers looked like the more prepared team from the sideline today. It's just a were one step ahead of the Cardinals for the majority of the game. In Carlinal scored toushdown late to make it a little bit closer, But for a lot of today it was a Panther's dominated game.

And that started with Teddy. You know he when he had that Russian touchdown, I said he had did his best. Sam Donald I prussion because he escaped right up the middle for a touchdown. But I don't think he's sneaky fast. I think he's just fairly fast. I mean, we've known him to be at sneak. He just sneaky fast, though he everyone went went too hard the other way of like when a couple of people were like, this guy

can't scramble. I mean, this guy is a scrambler. He's athletic when he was coming out, and people are like, no, Like you're just saying that because he's black. Um, Actually he's more of a pocket guy. But sneaky fast seems right for me, and I think he's been earny here. Of course, is that usually sneaky fast is attributed to the white guys in the slot. He's the first. He's the first black quarterback to be called sneaky fast. I think it's appropriate, and I think he's been getting faster.

He he's looked a little more athletic every year, and that was a big part of his game at Louisville, not so much scrambling to run, but evading pass rushers. I think he's done a good job. How about Matt Rule putting it on old Cliff Kingsbury again for the Big twelve? I mean something there when you're getting, when you're getting Reggie Bonifin and Mike Davis the rush for a hundred and sixty plus yards, I'm I'm kind of

in with you, Mark. This Matt Rule thing is it's happening. Yeah, People are like, Oh, I mean the thought was they would be you know, progressing and you know, causing problems late in the year and they're already showing that they can coach. Well, I have to ask you those shook. I mean when you look at the Cardinals, do you think that what's going on here? Are there are teams may be catching up to this scheme or is it functioning?

So I think at four point three yards for attempt today, it's two weeks in a row where they've they have not looked um at all like they did earlier in the in the first two weeks. Well, you know why because a lot of the Cardinals offense is predicated on Kyler Murray improvising and patching all the holes that they have by just running and gaining first down and adding that element of the unexpected. And and you know when they ran the ball effetually last year with Kenyan Drake,

he came out of the shotgun by spreading guys out. Well, that's not working this time. I mean they were creating lanes by lessing defenders in the box. That's just that element of that is not in their game today. Uh. Kenny Drink and thirteen carriage for thirty five yards. I mean,

that's not gonna get you anything. When when your quarterback is consistently outrushing everybody else and you have to rely on that as a staple of your offense, Eventually other defenses are gonna catch up to it, because that should be something that's improvisation, not something that's built into the way you succeed on a week to week basis. And it really hurt them today, and it especially doesn't help them when they have to come from behind. Their defense

did them no favors like I said they were. I think they were out schemed for the majority of this game. And I think that the Cardinals are gonna have a tough path because those first games they want early in the season a lot of that, especially in San Francisco. For example, those first downs were converted by Kyler Murray with his legs, and I just don't think that's a sustainable way to win a game. Eleven throws to non DeAndre Hopkins wideouts for twenty six yards. That's that's not

the Gabbard zone. That's like the Cincinnati Reds batting average zone. That is right the Panthers. And this is why sports are funny Panthers now and two with Christian McCaffrey two and oh without which takes us to Sunday Night Football, Sunday Night. From the twenty five yard line, I'm a little throws and all the way to the zone touchdown Alex Singleton. Shan makes a terrible throw. Shingleton is right there and then they are shut rating in front of

the big tree. Baby who baby Indeed Al Michael's with the call for NBC. Alex Singleton, right place, right time for the specials special teamer who steps in front of

that Nick Molans pass takes it to the house. Turned out to be the clinching score for the Philadelphia Eagles, who hold on for twenty win over the San Francisco forty Niners at the Big Bowl Bottom, a huge win the goals, who, as the old saying goes, spent most of the game on offense, making it look like they were on a one twenty yard field going uphill both ways. But Carson Wentz with a long touchdown passed to put them ahead, followed quickly by that pick six and Nick Shook.

The Eagles are in first place as a result. It was ugly, but I don't think this Seguel team could win or get their first one of the year any other way than than an ugly fashion against a team that was you know, I don't know if it was equally a shorthand probably more shorthanded. The Eagles have had their own rash of injuries, of course. I mean that we we saw who scored, you know, a touched in tonight, a guy who has no statistics recorded prior to tonight,

uh in Travis Fulham. So Uh an interesting game, Uh, an exciting game at the end. Sure if if you thought that Bethroom can actually throw it to the end zone, but hey, the Eagles are off the schnide, right, he did throw it to the end zone, Bethard got. I mean it's crazy that after the Eagles kind of sat on the ball and didn't pick up a third and nine after replacing Nick Mullins, and we can you know,

get into NICKA Mullins just having a nightmarish night. Uh. From the first from the jump, I mean he missed his first two throws by a mile, including what could have been a monster one to use check and uh, Bethard put a hail Mary up there from about the thirty five forty that that literally hit George Kittle and Deebo Samuel in the hands. So it's like it was that it was that close, but uh, the Eagles almost felt like they deserved this one. Um. I don't know.

The way the defense got after Nick Collins was was pretty good and just it just felt like a miracle. The two long drives that they did have an offense, the touchdown drive in the first half and the field goal drive to start the second half which took about eight minutes, It just felt like that was such an achievement for them that it was like, Okay, night, enjoy your first place. You're one too and one Eagles fans. I thought coming out of the half that the Niners

they put together this drive. You know, that third quarter was one of those almost rare quarters were only two drives would have um occupied in the entire period, but there was a little bit of a third one in there. But the Niners had a touchdown drive that covered seventy five yards that I thought was sort of a Kyle Shanahan and almost Nick Mullins special where there was a

bullet to Brandon aiyuk Uh. McKinnon got involved there was a classic nod to Mike Shanahan with a shuffle pass that John Elway used to run with the Broncos back in the nineties, and then everything fell apart from there. Was followed by a punt, the fumble, the interception, the quarterback switch, and there you go. Niners could not get it done. I they you know, they go up when Whence connects with fulgam for forty two yards, then the pick six, and the game looks like it's a actively done.

At that point, Bethard comes in uh and gives the Niners a spark and after on site kick recovery, I just I, you know, especially Doug Peterson, a guy who helped bring the league along, and being aggressive on fourth down.

I didn't understand the way they played that. They ran the ball for a yard, they ran the ball for no gain, and then wentz did that annoying little thing where the quarterback takes the snap and then scrambles and then slides down like Michael Strahan's chasing him for the sack record, you know, not being aggressive where he's just go go get a first down, just go get a first down and and show some um gumption. But I guess Doug Peterson is that's where he's at with his offense.

Even coming off the touchdown pass on the drive before, there was three and a half quarters of evidence saying that Philadelphia is not an offense to be trusted right now. But you know, they got away with it. But it was definitely a closer call than it should have been. But that shouldn't That doesn't kind of mark the night for me, especially since they still want I think it's commendable.

Carson Wentz has gotten a ton of heat this year, and he's deserved some of it because he hasn't played well. But yeah, he is really dealing. It's got a stack deck against him, and you know, the offensive line is beat up right now. His left tackle was in and out of the lineup. The wide receivers, so many pieces are missing, and it just seems like such a challenge. Even against an injury depleted forty Niners defense, it was

very difficult to find receivers who were open. So you give you give Win's credit for hanging in there and keeping this game close and then making the big strike to take control when he's got Adrian Killings in there, You've got Travis Fulgan, but I would just say, if you're gonna use jail and Hurts, that's fine, but have those plays makes sense. Had the offense to me, the

Eagles offense like pretty much post Frank Reich. But I'll just speak about this night, like I don't think they kind of know what they want to be and maybe they can't with the personnel in there. But like Miles Sanders to me, like, I'm not nearly as impressed with this guy as some people around the country seem to be. Like they when they were dominant, back when they went

to the Super Bowl. I think the thing that is forgotten because they've never been that way since they had a pounding run game that would beat people up down the stretch. They were the third best run game in the league, and that's completely absent right now. I mean, I think that's kind of indicative of the fact that they've lost so much the offensive line. I mean, not having Brandon Books is a big deal. Having to shift to Jason Peters over is a big deal, having to

figure out what you had left guard. But they weren't last year either, Like yeah, and you know they were right, I Mean, they weren't this banged up there. I mean they I think they think this is a this is a freaking miracle that they just won a game without you know, you mentioned Lane Johnson coming in and out, so four of their five offensive linemen were out. Their top receivers, Uh, we're Fulham greg Ward was kind of their number one. You've got Richard Rodgers, Uh coming over

from creen Bay. You got Hight Tower, your fifth round pick. Uh. Their defensive line is totally healthy and was d e And to me, it was the difference in in this game. You know, Brandon Graham was killing Mike McGlinchey. Those are two starters. Actually McGlinchey is the forty Niners starter. Uh. Josh Sweat made plays like they up and down their bench. That was kind of the most dominant part of this game.

But Mullins also kind of just didn't show up. Yeah, I think Mullins is the big is the big takeaway from me here. I think they lost the game because the Nick Mullins. It's not it stinks to put it on one player, but when it's the quarterback, that's the way sometimes things go in football. Because you look at this team and if I'm a Niners fan, I'm bummed because I'm two and two now, But at the same time, you see the pieces are there. George Kittle came back

and it's absolutely just such a dominant player. Um, he's the toughest tackle in football. Deebo Samuel's back in the lineup and he made some plays. He just looks different and and he's he's big and he's fast. And then Brandon Dayuk you saw he flashed that special ability on the touchdown. Once Jimmy g gets back in there, I think the Niners are gonna be okay and continue to

hang in the race. But it doesn't this loss any easier to swell because you're at home against the injury ravaged Eagles team and you don't find a way to get it done. Yeah, you know, going back to the Eagle's offense point, it felt kind of like they, you know, Doug Peterson's just searching for something the whole, the whole Jalen Hurts insertion and and everything they tried with him.

They try to basically double pass and he turned to throw it and it was obviously covered because you had an idea what they were going for with Hurts lined about wide. It just it just feels like they're searching and they're trying to find something that sticks to throwing everything at the wall and they finally gonna win. So I mean it is it's it's a boost for them because going back to Philly oh three and one would have been really difficult, especially against team that's quarterback by

Nick Bollins and then later season method. So you you obviously give them credit to the defense, like you said, but it's still going forward, it's gonna be tough and they have to play the Ravens and the Steelers coming up next. Everyone in the NFC's council a little extra that this this was kind of a perfect son uh example. Though part of what istball I think it's been a little under reported almost are just the level of injuries

is outrageous. They're just if this isn't normal to have entire teams ravage, like we're we're kind of getting the on the forty Niners for not beating this injury banged up the Eagles team, But forty Niners are missing nine or ten starters and so are the Eagles. Like that is rare, and there's about six or seven teams that are like that, and even the teams that are kind of healthy. It's like, you know, the Browns lose Ogan

Job and Chubb today even during this game. The forty Niners lose Ziggyanza sounds like to a biceps injury maybe for maybe for the season. It's like they got Dion Jordan. They're picking up lottery guys that that were that were out of the league and just like putting them right in. And it's kind of the story of the league right now. There are some teams that are just so wiped out. It's a little hard to even like make an evaluation

of any of these things. But I think Craig, I think we like people widely praised the Niners for being super injured and pounding too bad New York teams. They played a banged up team tonight and they lost. So it's like, I don't know, I mean, I don't know if the statistically there are more injuries or not. It seems like there are, but I feel like there in terms of like multiple multiple guys, in terms of like half of a team of starters being out on like

five teams, it's there that that never happened. So I guess I'm just giving the forty Niners fans. They're gonna get some people back. Like Dan said, the cavalry is coming. They went too and too. If you can beat the Dolphins next week, you're three in two. I mean you've also picked the Eagles to go to the super Bowl, so you've got both fan bases. On the Greg Rosenthal side here, we know how this works. There's gonna be

a little campaign. Greg does this with two or three teams a week, tries to reach out to their fan base on Twitter. Dan knows, just like football. What are you talking about to uh miss the playoffs? I'm sorry, did we get a mention of Saint Twitter yet? Exactly? We gotta start ringing a bell for that. Hey, Shook,

I want to thank you for doing the show. I know obviously this has been a tough time for you after uh the Indians crapp the bet against the Yankees in the playoffs for you know, another year, tough, tough stitch for you. But you know you're a good sport for coming on the show. Well, you know, Dan Um, if we could ever level the playing field in terms of salary uh spending for for rosters, you know, maybe a salary cap or or a better revenue sharing or oh,

I don't know, um something to compare the payrolls at all. Well, then maybe we'd be on an even playing field and then we could talk seriously. But you know, the adience always undermanned in terms of finances. Even if their owners turn a thirty million dollar y your profit, give or take, you got to get an owner who spent some money. They fault. They're never gonna spend money here. It's it's a it's a deep conversation that we cannot do on

this podcast. The last time they spent money was obvious a kid in the nineties with the Jacobs, and those guys are long gone. It's tough. Yeah, your cy young winners got to do better than that though in that spot, well go ahead or yeah, just let him allow allowed Nick to enjoy one of the rare Browns victors of his lifetime, versus bringing up I get to enjoy anything. I am a Jets fan, so maybe this is my chance to have something nice in my life. Maybe it

all bounces out a little bit. I mean, I feel like the Yankees are a pretty nice thing to have in your life in Generaliza, Yeah, yeah, it must be nice, you know, to be able to look back on a few World Series in your lifetime, unlike I have to go back to my great grandfather to find the Indians last World Series. And you know what, one more thing, the Browns. Like you said, Mark the Browns. They're now three and one for the first time since two thousand one.

They opened that season with a loss to the Seattle Seahawks nine to six at Cleveland Brown Stadium. Ricky Waters was on that roster, among other people. I opened two thousand one by playing flag football on the field at Cleveland Brown Stadium. That's how long it's been since the Browns were in any shape of contention. At this point in the regular season, I was in fourth grade. M m A. While it's important, it's important to get yourself

worth from whether your team succeeds or so. This is big, like this is that, this is what's gonna make you rise. Imagine if we all had the clarity that Greg has on all things in life. Red Sox fan, who you know, you've got like eighties six titles. I didn't do anything for them, they give me nothing. We'll reach that level of stoicism after understanding what any success is just on a higher plane you know living it's vision over. I'm

just saying, don't let these losers control you. When they're leading losers, You're a winner, Shook you the three, all four of us are winners here like sometimes an organization is just a bunch of losers, and when they are, you recognize that psychologist that's you, Greg Um. All right, let's go out here, Shook. Thank you again for being our tag team partner here on Sunday nights. You're a great value. Add uh to the show, and we'll be back on Tuesday with a action packed around the NFL

podcast breaking down not one but two games, including Chiefs Patriots. Uh. The last word I'll give to Al Michaels or I should say Chris Collinsworth UM, who said, in response to Al saying our buddies Jim Nance and Tony Romo are still in Kansas City. Collinsworth replies, so Roman's gonna do Monday Night after all, which just slayd Al because Al, of course is involved in the Monday Night courtship supposedly reportedly uh in the off season. All right, that's it.

Then has a signing off four Quiet Storm Shook the Mailman, the Old Boss, and Ricky Hollywood behind the virtual of less Well until Tuesday,